B

Baa, n. bleat, bleating.--v. bleat.

babble, v. prattle, gabble; murmur, purl. See talk.

babble, n. prattle, gabble, chatter, prating; murmur, purl.

babbler, n. prater, chatterer, prattler, tattler.

baby, n. infant, babe, suckling, nursling. See child.

baby, v. humor, fondle, indulge, coddle, pet, cosset.

baby, a. infantine, infantile, babyish.

babyhood, n. infancy.

bachelor, n. celibate.

bachelorhood, n. bachelorship, bachelorism, celibacy.

back, n. reverse; posteriors, fundament, buttocks, seat, rump, breech; ridge. Associated words: supine, resupine, resupination, dorsigerous, dorsiferous, crick, dorsiparous, dos-à-dos, tergiferous, lumbago, notalgia, lumbar, aitchbone, loins, dorsicumbent.

back, a. posterior, dorsal, notal, tergal, neural; remote, distant, frontier; rear, reverse.

back, adv. backward, rearward; in arrear; in return, in restitution, in requital.

back, v. support, second, maintain, abet, subsidize, coöperate, with; mount; indorse.

backbite, v. defame (clandestinely), malign, traduce, vilify, calumniate, scandalize.

backbiter, n. defamer, detractor, maligner, vilifier, slanderer, calumniator.

backbiting, n. defamation, vilification, traducement, calumny, slander (secret).

backbone, n. spine, spinal column, rachis, chine. Associated words: vertebræ, Vertebrata, vertebra, vertebral spinal. See spine.

backbone, n. moral principle, steadfastness, stability, firmness, stamina.

backboned, a. vertebrate, vertebrated. Antonyms: invertebrate, invertebrated.

backdown, n. surrender, recession, withdrawal.

backhouse, n. outhouse, privy, necessary, water-closet, jakes, latrine (in camp or hospital).

backing, n. support, coöperation, seconding, assistance, subsidy.

backing out. withdrawal, retreat, recession, retirement.

back out. (Colloq.) withdraw, retreat, resile, recede, retire.

backset, n. discouragement, setback, check, repulse, rebuff.

backslide, v. break faith, apostatize, retrograde, relapse, desert, fall away.

backslider, n. apostate, renegade, deserter, recreant, pervert.

backsliding, n. apostasy, defection, relapse, recidivism, recreancy, retrogradation.

backsliding, a. apostate, renegade, retrogressive, recidivous, recreant, unfaithful.

backward, a. retrograde, retrogressive, reverse, regressive; retrospective; reluctant, averse, loath, disinclined, unwilling; dull, inapt; late, tardy, delayed; undeveloped.

backwardness, n. reluctance, averseness, unwillingness, disinclination, hesitancy; inaptness, dullness; lateness, tardiness; undevelopment.

bacon, n. Associated words: lardoon, bard, flitch, gammon, lard.

bad, a. evil, wicked, immoral, iniquitous, arrant, corrupt, depraved, sinful, base, demoralized, sinister, licentious, unprincipled, abandoned, graceless, vicious, incorrigible, unscrupulous, miscreant, reprobate, disreputable, rascal, scoundrel, profligate, knavish, naughty, malevolent, malicious, unrighteous, degrading, dissolute, libertine, hardened, wanton; injurious, prejudicial, pernicious, detrimental, baneful, unwholesome, baleful, deleterious, mischievous, noisome, malign, malignant, noxious, unpropitious, disadvantageous; offensive, serious, grave, severe, mortal; defective, imperfect, incompetent, inferior; untoward, depressing, unwelcome, adverse, grievous, unfavorable, inauspicious; infertile, inarable; barren, unproductive, worthless; hard, heavy, serious, irreparable, egregious; nefarious, felonious, infamous, villainous, heinous, flagrant, atrocious, flagitious.

badge, n. device, cognizance, emblem, ensign, brassard, cordon, star, insignia.

badinage, n. raillery (innocent), banter, persiflage, asteism.

badly, adv. poorly, unskillfully, wretchedly, grievously, imperfectly; very much; greatly.

badness, n. depravity, improbity, unscrupulousness, iniquity, immorality, turpitude, knavishness, villainy, peccancy, baseness, profligacy, venality, licentiousness, obliquity, pravity, degeneracy, viciousness, wantonness, criminality, libertinism, malevolence, incorrigibility, rascality, malignity, noxiousness, infamy, mischief.

baffle, v. foil, balk, checkmate, disconcert, frustrate, thwart, circumvent, nonplus.

bafflement, n. frustration, foiling, thwarting, circumvention, defeat, disconcertion.

baffling, a. disconcerting, frustrating, confusing, perplexing.

bag, n. sack, pouch, wallet, reticule, knapsack, pocket, cul-de-sac, haversack, portmanteau, poke, scrip, satchel, suitcase, quiver, valise, sporran, gunny sack; udder; cyst, vesicle, saccule, utricle, bladder.

bag, v. capture, entrap, catch.

baggage, n. luggage, traps.

baggage truck. lorrie, lorry.

baggy, a. unshapely, flabby.

bagpipe, n. doodlesack.

bail, n. security, surety, vadium.

bait, n. lure, enticement, inducement, temptation, decoy, allurement; kibblings.

balance, v. poise, librate; equal, counterpoise, counteract, counterbalance, countervail; adjust, equalize, square. Antonyms: unbalance, derange, preponderate.

balance, n. scales; equipoise, equilibrium, steadiness; surplus, excess, remainder, overplus; poise, equipoise; weighing, estimate. Antonyms: preponderance, deficit, deficiency.

balcony, n. gallery, terrace.

bald, a. hairless, polled; tonsured; unadorned, literal, undisguised, unvarnished, unqualified; uncorroborated, unsupported, glaring, mere.

balderdash, n. flummery, nonsense, jargon, fustian, moonshine, twaddle, fudge.

baldness, n. alopecia. Associated word: alopecist.

balk, v. frustrate, baffle, foil, thwart, disappoint; jib.

balky, a. refractory, perverse, recalcitrant, contrary, stubborn.

ball, n. sphere, globe, orb, pellet; pome, pommel; base-ball, football, lacrosse, basket-ball, tether-ball; bullet, projectile, dejectile, missile; glomeration, conglobation; fandango (Mexico).

ballarag, v. (Slang) bully, threaten, browbeat, overbear, intimidate.

ballast, n. steadiness, self-control, equipoise, stability, judgment.

ballet, n. Associated words: choreograph, choreographer.

ballet-dancer, n. danseuse, coryphee, figurante.

balloon, n. aërostat.

ballooning, n. aëronautics, aërostation, balloonery.

balloonist, n. aëronaut, aërostat, ballooner.

balm, n. unguent, ointment; mitigant, anodyne, assuager, nepenthe, balsam.

balmy, a. aromatic, odoriferous, sweet-smelling, odorous, balsamic.

bamboozle, v. (Colloq.) cheat, humbug, impose upon, dupe.

ban, n. announcement, notice; curse, anathema, denunciation, malediction, execration; interdiction, proscription, interdict, taboo.

ban, v. curse, anathematize, execrate; interdict, forbid, proscribe, taboo.

banal, a. commonplace, platitudinous, hackneyed, trite.

banality, n. platitude, commonplace.

band, n. fillet, fetter, manacle, shackle, gyve; cincture, girth, swaddle; belt, zone, cestus; bandage, link, bond, vinculum, withe; company, crew, troop, gang, coterie; cabal, clique, club, junto, league; orchestra.

band, v. league, confederate, unite, clique.

bandage, n. ligature, deligation, fillet; capeline, fasciation, fascia, spica.

bandage, v. deligate, swathe.

bandit, n. outlaw, brigand, footpad, highwayman, marauder, desperado.

bang, v. thump, cudgel, maul; slam; resound, reëcho.

bang, n. thump, whack, rap, knock; clangor, clang.

banish, v. exile, expatriate, relegate; drive away, dismiss, expel.

banished person. exile, expatriate.

banishment, n. exile, expatriation, relegation, proscription, expulsion.

banister, n. baluster; pl. balustrade.

bank, n. mound, pile, ridge, dike, heap, drift, embankment, brink, shore, rivage, rim, brim, marge, strand; shallow, shoal, bar; levee; terreplein.

bank, v. embank, dike; pile up, heap up.

bankrupt, a. insolvent; depleted, impoverished. Antonym: solvent.

bankrupt, v. impoverish, ruin, break.

bankruptcy, n. insolvency. Antonym: solvency.

, n. flag, standard, gonfalon, ensign, oriflame, vexillum, banderole, colors, pavilion.

banquet, n. junket, regalement, feast.--v. feast, junket, regale.

banter, n. joking, jesting, pleasantry, badinage, chaff, raillery, persiflage, asteism.

banter, v. jest, chaff, rally, roast.

baptism, n. baptizing; parabaptism, pedobaptism; hypothetical, baptism. Associated words: baptize, christen, font, baptistery, baptismal.

bar, n. obstruction, barrier, impediment, obstacle, barricade, hindrance; shoal, sandbar, bank; ingot; lever, pole, rod; tribunal, judgment-seat; jimmy, betty.

bar, v. debar, except, exclude; obstruct, restrain, hinder.

barbarian, a. barbarous, savage, rude, uncivilized.--n. savage.

barbarism, n. savagery, savagism; outrage, brutality, atrocity; vulgarism, impropriety (of speech), solecism.

barbarity, n. barbarism, barbarousness, inhumanity, brutality.

barbarous, a. uncivilized, barbarian, inhuman, truculent, brutal.

barber, n. tonsor. Associated word: tonsorial.

barber's itch. sycosis.

bare, a. naked, nude, undressed, denuded, unveiled, exposed, undraped, in puris naturalibus; unadorned, bald, meager, unembellished, uncolored, unvarnished; empty, destitute, unfurnished; threadbare, pileworn, napless; meer, alone, sheer.

bare, v. denude, strip, divest, expose, undress, unmask.

barefaced, a. unmasked, undisguised, glaring, notorious; shameless, unabashed, brazen, audacious.

barefooted, a. unshod, discalced, discalceated.

bareness, n. nakedness, nudity.

bargain, v. stipulate, agree, contract, covenant; barter.

bark, n. cortex. Associated words: cortical, corticate, corticiferous, corticiform, phleophagus, corticose, periderm, liber, decortication, decorticator.

bark, v. peel, flay, skin, decorticate; bay, yelp, yap.

barn, n. stable.

barrel, n. cask, cade, butt, puncheon, tierce, hogshead, keg, rundlet; (of wine) 31-1/2 gallons; (of flour) 196 pounds. Associated words: gauntree, cooper, bilge, stave, hoop, chine.

barren, a. sterile, agenestic, infecund, unprolific, unprocreant; unproductive, unfruitful, unfertile, effete, desert; unprofitable, fruitless, unremunerative, empty; stupid, dull, unimaginative, prosaic, devoid, uninspiring, uninteresting. Antonyms: prolific, fecund, virile, fruitful, fertile, teeming.

barrenness, n. sterility, infecundity, unprolificness, infertility. Antonyms: fecundity, prolificness, fertility.

barrier, n. obstruction, impediment, obstacle, hindrance, barricade.

barter, n. traffic, exchange, trade, business.--v. traffic, trade, exchange.

base, a. debased, impure, spurious, alloyed, counterfeit; low-minded, unworthy, ignoble, mean, servile, groveling; despicable, discreditable, disgraceful, venal; plebeian, obscure, untitled, unhonored.

base, n. basis, bottom, foundation, groundwork; pedestal; plinth.

baseboard, n. mopboard, scrubboard.

baseborn, a. plebeian.

baseless, a. unfounded, groundless.

basement, n. cellar. Associated word: area.

bashful, a. over-modest, diffident, coy, shamefaced, sheepish, retiring.

bashfulness, n. modesty, diffidence, shyness, over-modesty.

basis, n. foundation.

bask, v. luxuriate, revel.

basket, n. hamper, creel, hanaper, pannier, corb, tumbril, dosser, canister, prickle, corf, bassinet, voider, flasket, punnet, wicker, wicker-work, scuttle.

basket-bearer, n. canephore, canephorus. (Gr. Antiq.)

bastard, n. illegitimate child, love-child, whoreson; mamzer (Mosaic law).

bastard, a. illegitimate, adulterine; spurious, false, counterfeit, supposititious.

bastardize, v. illegitimatize, Antonyms: legitimate, legitimatize.

baste, v. beat, cudgel, pound, pommel, buffet, thrash, maul, strike.

bat, n. club, cudgel; brickbat; cheiropter, vampire; racket; (Slang) blow, stroke, buffet; (Slang) spree, jollification.

batch, n. quantity, collection, lot, assortment.

bate, n. puer, grainer.

bath, n. ablution, lavement; bathroom, lavatory. Associated words: balneal, balneary, balneography, balneology balneotherapy, laver.

bathe, v. lave, wash; foment; surround, envelop, enwrap, suffuse.

bathing, n. ablution, lavement.

baton, n. staff, wand, sceptre, truncheon.

batten, v. fatten.

batter, v. smite, pelt, assault; demolish, raze, shatter.

battle, n. engagement, fight, encounter, skirmish, contest, combat, tournament, strife.

battle array. battalia.

bauble, n. gewgaw, gimcrack, kickshaws, trinket, plaything.

bawdy-house, n. brothel.

bay, n. bight, frith, estuary, fiord, bayou; recess, alcove, sinus, oriel (bay window); bay-tree, sweet laurel; last resort, desperation; pl. honors, garland, renown.